Historical Left

The Historical Left was a liberal faction of Italian politics which existed from 1849 to 1913. Divided between a moderate and parliamentarian majority under Urbano Rattazzi and a radical and republican minority under Giuseppe Garibaldi, the faction represented the northern and southern middle class, urban bourgeoisie, small businessmen, journalists, and academics, and it supported the right to vote and universal public schooling. After Italian unification, the Left sat in opposition to the Historical Right and was divided between Rattazzi's liberal faction, Agostino Depretis and Agostino Bertani's anti-republican faction, and Francesco Crispi's populist faction, and it was not until 1876 that the Left rose to power. From 1881 to 1887, the Left achieved universal manhood suffrage, adopted protectionism, and supported an imperialist foreign policy. During the 1890s, the Left began to show conservative tendencies such as breaking strikes and protests and supporting colonialism in Africa. The 1896 Battle of Adwa in Ethiopia was disastrous, leading to the collapse of the Liberal government. In 1913, the Left and the Destra Liberale faction of the Right merged into the Liberal Union of Italy.